Solving the puzzle of natural auditory object perception - neural mechanisms in humans and animal models

In natural auditory environments, most people effortlessly separate relevant sound objects from the auditory background. Yet, many significantly struggle in such settings (e.g., people with hearing impairments). Furthermore, in certain disease states, either internal (tinnitus) or external sounds or sound objects preoccupy our mind to the detriment of normal function. To characterise and treat these impairments we ultimately need to understand their neuronal-level mechanisms. In this proposal, we will collect brain-imaging data (electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging) during complex naturalistic auditory scene analysis with different types of naturalistic auditory objects (e.g., human speech or animal sounds). Our work aims to establish system-level brain mechanisms underlying auditory object analysis in humans and their compatibility to animal models, in order to ultimately understand how neurons process auditory objects in acoustical scenes.